1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to potato cooking devices and more particularly to a novel portable potato chip cooker incorporating a potato feeder, slicer and cooking vat in a single unitary construction.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the culinary arts, it has been a typical procedure to slice raw potatoes into a plurality of thin potato discs which are subsequently introduced to a hot vat of cooking oil so that the discs are cooked and the result is a potato chip which is crispy and of a substantial golden color. Many devices have been developed for automatically conducting this procedure and some of the prior art devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,218,959; 2,911,903; 2,406,769 and 1,666,019. Although these previous devices have been successful for their intended purposes, difficulties have been encountered due to the fact that the equipment is of an industrial type which is large and intended to process slicing and cooking of potato chips in substantial quantities. Consequently, the devices are relatively complex and include many parts and automatic features which tend to increase the cost of the equipment as well as its complexity.
Therefore, a long standing need has existed to provide a potato cooking apparatus which is simple to assemble and operate and one which is inexpensive to construct and purchase. Furthermore, the need includes the requirement that the cooker be of small physical size so that it may be placed on a table counter or top such that the device is readily usable in the ordinary home and kitchen. The compactness of the device requires that all of the elements necessary in feeding, slicing and cooking of the potato be included so that small quantities of potatoes can be handled and at a more controlled time and condition.